Rookie diary: Long travel to Germany, Turkey

Rookie diary: Long travel to Germany, Turkey

Last week I was in San Antonio for a Futures Tour event at The Dominion Country Club. The course was amazing and in such perfect shape. The greens were fast – how I normally like them – but for some reason I just couldn’t get any putts to drop! I only made five birdies for the whole event and shot 71-71-75 to finish tied for 21st.

I was disappointed in my final round and am looking forward to the event where I put three or four great rounds together to finish really well. I feel like I am really on the verge of playing great golf and I was reading a magazine on the flight this morning that interviewed PGA Tour players and one (I can’t remember which… oops!) said that there is such a fine between finishing 20th and winning, and once everything falls into place, it just clicks.

I worked really hard on my swing with my mom when she came into town and I was pleased with the results. I am hitting the ball much better than I did in Brownsville, so I am excited to play these next two weeks in the Ladies European Tour events in Turkey and Germany.

Ever wonder what life is like for a LPGA rookie? Well, Mallory Blackwelder is here to tell you. Blackwelder, 22, will file a weekly diary on Golfweek.com to give you an insider’s view of life on the LPGA, LET and Duramed Futures Tour. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/MalBlackwelder.

Right now I am in the Atlanta airport waiting on my flight to Munich. Once my dad and I arrive in Munich on Thursday, we will fly to Istanbul and then to our final destination, Antalya, Turkey. I am not looking forward to the travel because it is going to be a long, long day, but I am ready to get there!

We dodged a possible travel nightmare this morning when our flight was delayed from San Antonio to Atlanta. Delta was nice enough to put us on the earlier flight that was also delayed because there were two seats left.

A flight delay to Atlanta would have caused a huge problem because we booked our flights to Germany and Turkey separately. So instead of flying on the same ticket all the way through to Antalya, we booked the first flight round trip and then booked Munich-Antalya round trip on a separate airline. It was more cost effective to book the tickets that way, but it’s a little risky because if you get delayed in the first few legs of the trip, you’re really messed up! So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll be departing Atlanta on time this afternoon!